Cake Decorating Basics - An Introduction

The art of cake decorating is centuries old. Around the world, people have used the art of cake decorating to make elaborate edible sculptures that are the centerpieces of holidays, birthdays, and all kinds of special occasions. In any celebratory meal, having a gorgeous cake as a dessert is the crowning culinary delight of the evening.

Have you ever looked at a particularly fancy cake and thought, how do they do that? The artist probably spent years perfecting the art of cake decorating in order to create that cake. Some Sugarcraft artists will sell their designs; some will teach classes and teach students how to make their “signature” cakes and some will guard their techniques like a national security secret.

Cakes are a unique food product because cakes can be cooked, molded, shaped, and decorated to look like just about anything imaginable. Pastry chefs, wedding cake designers, and other Sugarcraft artists spend years, sometimes their entire lifetimes, perfecting new methods of decorating cakes and creating new and unique designs for cakes.

Cake decorating is a popular art form all over the world. Even though it’s less common in North America for people to bake cakes from scratch than it was a few decades ago, decorating cakes is still a very popular pastime. The rise of cable TV stations like the Food Network have led to the creation of entire TV shows that feature celebrated Sugarcraft artists, cake decorators and designers, and pastry chefs.

Cake decorating is an art, but it’s an art that almost anyone can learn. There are lots of resources to help you lean how to become an expert cake decorator. You can find books, magazines, websites, classes and groups all devoted to the centuries old art of cake decorating. You may even find that you have such an interest in and talent for cake decorating that you want to decorate cakes as a profession!